Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
sharp spears in their hands. Hector laid hold of a stone that lay just
outside the gates and was thick at one end but pointed at the other;
two of the best men in a town, as men now are, could hardly raise it
from the ground and put it on to a waggon, but Hector lifted it
quite easily by himself, for the son of scheming Saturn made it light
for him. As a shepherd picks up a ram’s fleece with one hand and
finds it no burden, so easily did Hector lift the great stone and
drive it right at the doors that closed the gates so strong and so
firmly set. These doors were double and high, and were kept
closed by two cross-bars to which there was but one key. When he
had got close up to them, Hector strode towards them that his blow
might gain in force and struck them in the middle, leaning his
whole weight against them. He broke both hinges, and the stone
fell inside by reason of its great weight. The portals re-echoed with
the sound, the bars held no longer, and the doors flew open, one
one way, and the other the other, through the force of the blow.
Then brave Hector leaped inside with a face as dark as that of
flying night. The gleaming bronze flashed fiercely about his body
and he had tow spears in his hand. None but a god could have
withstood him as he flung himself into the gateway, and his eyes
glared like fire. Then he turned round towards the Trojans and
called on them to scale the wall, and they did as he bade themsome
of them at once climbing over the wall, while others passed
through the gates. The Danaans then fled panic-stricken towards
their ships, and all was uproar and confusion.
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